Cookie Banner Ghosting: Why 80-90% of Your Analytics Data Disappears
· 43 min read
Introduction
The biggest threat to your analytics isn't cookie rejection—it's cookie banner ghosting.
While marketers obsess over rejection rates (users clicking "Reject All"), the silent killer of analytics data is the 40-60% of visitors who simply ignore cookie consent banners entirely. They don't accept. They don't reject. They just... ignore it.
This phenomenon, called "banner ghosting" or "decision avoidance," represents basic human psychology: when faced with an unwanted decision, people procrastinate or avoid it entirely. Cookie consent banners trigger this avoidance behavior at scale.